Ringgit easier against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed easier today as traders were still unimpressed with the outcome of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting last week, which had a negative impact on the foreign exchange market, a dealer said.
At 6 pm, the local unit was quoted at 4.2810/ 2840 against the greenback from Monday's close of 4.2705/2735.
The dealer said oil prices again slipped below US$50 (RM214.12) per barrel and currency traders were likely to continue selling at this level.
FXTM Vice-President for Corporate Development and Market Research Jameel Ahmad said the negative impact on the oil market was not due to a lack of effort from the side of OPEC, but it is more linked to the belief that US Shale producers would turn the volume up on increased production.
"The ongoing threat to investor sentiment, when it comes to the oil markets, is that no matter what OPEC tries to do to rebalance the ongoing oversupply in the markets, US Shale producers will be able to offset the efforts by increasing inventories from their side,"he said.
Against other major currencies, the ringgit was traded lower.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0881/0909 from 3.0858/0891 on Monday and declined to 3.8540/8574 from 3.8345/8386 versus the Japanese yen.
The local unit depreciated against the British pound to 5.5032/5088 from 5.4825/4872 and vis-a-vis the euro it dropped to 4.7789/7839 from 4.7770/7816. — Bernama